New solvent to wipe down

[bass5]

Hey as anyone ever thought of using acetone to clean or wipe down before or after playing? I mean if it's used to take off paint and such it'd make sense to me. This last Friday I soaked my strings in denatured alcohol and that trick worked then today played my bass this mornin and just wiped them down with acetone and just played and to me sounds a little more crisp what am I missing

[Slowgypsy]

Originally Posted by bass5

Hey as anyone ever thought of using acetone to clean or wipe down before or after playing? I mean if it's used to take off paint and such it'd make sense to me. This last Friday I soaked my strings in denatured alcohol and that trick worked then today played my bass this mornin and just wiped them down with acetone and just played and to me sounds a little more crisp what am I missing

Be careful... be very careful. It's all about solvents and what they dissolve. Acetone will wreck havoc with all the plastic parts found on your instrument... as in it will soften and damage them. It also has the potential to do the same with certain finishes. Denatured alcohol is also a powerful solvent, but it really doesn't react with most plastics or finishes... although it works great as a solvent for dirt/grime/finger oils that find their way onto strings through normal use.

[SurferJoe46]

Acetone will craze urethane and take the critical oils out of your fretboard too.

If you have any bare steel that's not stainless, it will break the top oxide layer (rust, even though you can't see it) and promote new oxidation to steel parts that aren't instantly re-coated with oils, wax or a surface sealer of some sort.

The acetone vapors will attack the plastic/conductive compounds of the wiped areas inside your potentiometers (pots) and render then a mushy, sticky surface that will destroy them.

Acetone vapors are very active and will flow like water to lower areas, so be careful with any pilot lights, smoking is forbidden and static discharges can ignite these vapors too.

Besides an acute fire danger - it can also leech the oils out of your skin and cause cracking from the solvent qualities of acetone on the skin.

Strange as it may sound, acetone is an acceptable food additive though.

Do NOT allow acetone and hydrogen peroxide to even be in the same room. It creates acetone peroxide and it is very unstable.

[stratovani]

I've worked with acetone for years, and all the advice given so far is very good, but I just want to throw my two cents in.

1. Acetone and acrylic plastics get along like Jeff Berlin and TalkBass. Be very careful using acetone around acrylic plastics.

2. If you get acetone in a open cut, no matter how tiny, you'll know it, your neighbor down the street will know it, people in the next town will know it. Light a match, then put it on your skin. You'll get the idea!

3. Acetone evaporates like crazy. You'll use a ton of it for whatever you're planning on doing. That's why they call it a "clean-air solvent".

I'd stick with something else when wiping down strings.

[bottomzone]

PLEASE DO NOT USE ACETONE!!!

http://www.sciencelab.com/xMSDS-Acetone-9927062

A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

[BuffaloBass]

Dude, I use that stuff to spike fuel for a high compression big block Chevy. Its a nasty aromatic.

Hardest thing I'll use to wipe the strings is denatured alcohol.